Where the road crossed the river in the south of the old town of Ahrweiler, it breaks off today.

The water masses washed away the bridge built in 1893, as did many others along the Ahr.

Right next to it, the technical relief organization has built a makeshift bridge, as elsewhere in the valley.

Made of steel and on solid concrete foundations, which shows that these temporary arrangements will last.

On Sunday, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will make the first stop of a visit to the Ahrtor Bridge, which will be under the sign of reconstruction almost three months after the disaster.

Julian Staib

Political correspondent for Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland based in Wiesbaden.

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What Steinmeier gets to see makes it clear that this reconstruction is likely to take years: he visits a city that has been largely polished, but is still badly marked by the catastrophe.

Together with the Rhineland-Palatinate Interior Minister Roger Lewentz (SPD) and Environment Minister Anne Spiegel (Greens) he walks through the alleys to the market square.

The traces of the water can only be seen on a few panes: a brown line roughly at eye level.

Most of the shops and restaurants are gutted and empty.

Some have posters attached.

"Giving up is not an option," says one.

In many places there are also thanks to the thousands of helpers.

They are still on duty in the region, Steinmeier will meet with them later in the “helper camp”. Around 400 to 500 volunteers still come to the valley on workdays, and more on weekends. In Ahrweiler, too, the volunteers shape the picture. Professional helpers are hardly to be seen. On the market square, volunteers run a café opposite the Red Cross food counter, where residents sit in the sun.

In the parsonage next door, Steinmeier speaks to two families who have lost loved ones. The flood disaster in mid-July killed 134 people and injured more than 760. Authorities in the region have been heavily criticized for failing to issue warnings. "Little was heard" of such allegations, says Steinmeier after the meeting. Even if many “would of course have wished that warnings would have come sooner”. He does not say that warnings were only attempted when it was far too late for that.

Steinmeier was already in the region at the beginning of September. At the state ceremony for the flood victims at the Nürburgring, he had assured: “We stand by their side. Your country will not leave you alone on your way back to life. ”He will remind you of this on Sunday. That is a "promise that we have to keep". And: "We do not forget you, we always come back". During the talks he received “a lot of gratitude”, especially in view of the help. Here strangers have become friends.

According to estimates, around 9,000 buildings in the Ahr Valley were damaged or destroyed in the flood. For two weeks, those affected have been able to apply for funds from the flood aid fund. Around 15 billion euros are earmarked for reconstruction, those affected receive 80 percent, in exceptional cases even 100 percent for the reconstruction of their home. The same goes for companies. Soon the towns along the Ahr will look like huge construction sites.

However, some of them still seem deserted: Many residents have found accommodation elsewhere and have posted slips of paper with telephone numbers on the doors of their houses.

In some cases, there is great disenchantment among those who have stayed.

Even three months after the disaster, there is no heating or hot water in many places, and no electricity further upstream.

Last weekend the rubble was finally cleared away and the streets cleaned - maybe for Steinmeier, say two residents and laugh.

But a lot of water still doesn't come out of the tap, says one of them.

And there is no gas at all.

“But all of that will come back,” she says.

"Only I, at the age of 81, will probably never experience that again."